Display matrix incorporating light-conducting fibers and light-occulting shutters

Claim 1

In a display matrix wherein a display is selectively formed by elements of the matrix, each matrix element being formed by the downstream ends of a plurality of optical fibers whose upstream ends are adapted to receive light from a light source, electromechanical occulting means interposed in the path of light between said downstream end of said optical fibers and the front of said matrix and capable of modifying the properties of the light emitted to the front of the matrix in which said optical fibers are associated individually or in very small assemblies with said electromechanical occulting means, and means controlling said occulting means to selectively control the occulting of said associated optical fibers to form the desired display on the front of the matrix, the improvement comprising: said occulting means comprising a disc disposed in front of said downstream ends of said fibers and rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the surface of said disc, said disc incorporating multiple light modifying sectors capable of being interposed in said path of light as a function of rotation controlled by said control means, said disc being rotated by a rotary motor means having two positions of equilibrium; said motor means having a rotor rotating freely on a rotor axis and comprised of a small permanent magnet with two poles oriented radially with respect to said rotor axis, and a stator made of a material with good magnetic remanence and high magnetic permeability forming a circuit magnetizable by an electrical pulse and presenting two poles diametrically opposite with respect to said rotor axis; and means adapted to initiate rotation of said rotor at the moment of an electrical pulse energizing said stator, by misaligning said rotor poles relative to said stator poles when said rotor has stopped rotating and said stator is no longer energized by an electrical pulse, said means to misalign comprising said stator having a smooth, continuous inner peripheral surface disposed eccentrically with respect to said rotor and having portions diverging away from said rotor axis, the portions of said stator surface located closest to said rotor axis being locations of minimum magnetic reluctance causing said rotor to stop in a misaligned orientation relative to the stator residual magnetic lines of flux when said stator is no longer being energized by an electrical pulse.